Sagittarius A*
The monster at our galaxy's heart
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, 26,000 light-years from Earth. Imaged for the first time in 2022 by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Image: EHT Collaboration
Vital statistics
Type
Supermassive Black Hole
Mass
4.15 million Suns
Distance
26,000 light-years
Event horizon
~24 million km
Did you know
Stars orbit it at up to 5,000 km/s.
Fact 01
Despite its mass, it's relatively quiet — only sips gas.
Fact 02
Light from it bends around itself due to extreme gravity.
Fact 03
Research & publications
Jump straight into peer-reviewed papers, preprints and authoritative references for Sagittarius A*.
arXiv (preprints)
Open-access preprints in physics & astrophysics.
NASA ADS
The definitive bibliographic database for astronomy.
Google Scholar
Cross-publisher academic search.
Nature
Peer-reviewed articles in Nature & sister journals.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedic overview & onward references.
Tip: ask the Research AI for a curated reading list → /research
